Featured Artist: Emma Fradd
Emma Fradd first bred music into the world back in 2009 with her debut album ‘Search Party’. It’s been 9 years since Emma released her second studio album ‘How The Other Half Live’ and since then has toured Canada twice over, the later time with her band Interior Castle before their England tour with Luke Concannon. In the past 5 years she has been working with her Dance Pop band Heaps Good Friends, touring Australia a dozen times, helped spearhead an album of Psalms written by songwriters in the Brisbane Archdiocese, and more. Emma's new album 'Fun Sad' marries the juxtaposition of life's happiest turning point, right in the middle of life's biggest difficulty. Speaking of married, Emma recently got married (to David, the aforementioned turning point)
What got them talking in the first place? This idea of starting a record label… ‘Fun Sad’ the album is out now on their label, Enemy Love Records. David was a professional musician and entrepreneur before entering the Catholic seminary in 2012. He spent eight years in formation to the Priesthood for the Diocese of Winona-Rochester. He completed a bachelor’s degree in Philosophy at St. Mary’s University of Minnesota, and nearly completed a Master of Divinity at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit, Michigan before feeling called to serve the Church outside of the Priesthood. He is the owner and CEO of OréMoose Industries LLC, a Catholic art initiative.
Enemy Love Records! What is it, and why did you start it?
I met David over email through a mutual friend who I had asked to play cello on one of my songs 'Invisible Ink'. David engineered/recorded her in Minnesota and emailed me through tracks to me here in Brisbane, Australia. David had always had this idea of a Catholic Record Label and he wanted to chat with me to get my take. We ended up starting a relationship and dated online for 13 months before finally being able to meet in person after Covid was settling down, in December 2021(It was awesome). David moved to Australia at the start of 2022 and we began this record label. The vision for the label is to find good Catholic Music and bring it to people's ears. We do this by recording, producing and promoting our artist's music through online platforms, live shows, and offering ongoing professional development to musicians in songwriting, musicianship and evangelisation. There are so many bits of hidden gold written by Catholic artists around the world. I find when people think of Catholic Music they usually think of old hymns from the 70's still getting played at mass that just don't work anymore, or they think of Catholic music that is written to sound like protestant Praise and Worship, but it can be so much more.
David and I don't believe that Catholics have to make their songs sound 'obviously Christian', they don't have to have to fit into the mold of what has been done before. Having said this, we are finding there is some forming that needs to be done in this space, because obviously we shouldn't just write about anything we want, especially in regards to the darker side of life. Although writing music can be helpful to express how we feel and a way to process and deal with our emotions, what we release into the world has an effect because art is powerful, so there is a responsibility there that Catholic artists have also. To clarify, we don't look down upon the praise and worship genre, however we feel there is more than this one genre when it comes to music that Christian's write.
What projects are upcoming for you?
We currently have three musicians on our label: myself, my husband David Kruse, and a young R&B Mum artist from NZ, Valere. At the end of last year, we all released music and did a tour along the east coast of Australia. Next week we commence a short tour in NZ. Our latest releases are my album, 'Fun Sad', David's album 'Just Listen!', and Valere's latest single is titled 'Stuck in my head', though she is about to release an EP. In a few months we will release another song from a new artist from our label, who is from the UK; she is in the top 5 voices I've ever heard in my life I think! The song hits hard also. David is also currently writing some funk songs right now that are AMAZING. I have to learn bass for a few gigs coming up and they are very fast and very technical but it's a good challenge. We are going to be debuting them at the Mankato Solstice Festival on 17 June this year in Minnesota.
How do you find rest as an artist?
The best way to rest is to delete social media and throw your phone under a couch cushion. I have the best husband in the world who is always encouraging me to rest. David likes to get outside for hours on end but I'm such a homebody. We balance our 'co-rest' with hikes and board games.
Check out Enemy Love Records online, and their custom Spotify playlist featuring lesser-known Catholic artists that they love.